Family-owned Haymes named Australia’s best paint brand

Haymes Paint beat stiff competition including Dulux, Taubmans and British Paints to be named Australia’s number one paint brand by Canstar Blue recently, for the second consecutive year. Not bad for a fourth-generation family-owned paint brand that was founded in Ballarat in 1935, and still calls the town home.

“Competing as a manufacturer in a category dominated by multi-nationals presents its challenges, but we are so proud that as an Australian family-owned business we have been able to maintain our independent roots. It also reinforces our founding philosophy of never taking shortcuts on quality,” says director Tim Haymes.

In the recent survey, over 1,000 Australians scored paint brands on areas ranging from overall satisfaction to durability, ease of application, value for money, quality of finish and range. Haymes Paint was the only brand to score the maximum five stars across all six categories – no other brand attained a five-star rating in any category.

It was Tim’s grandfather Henry Haymes who set off for England in 1935 to learn how to manufacture paint. Never one to compromise on quality, Henry would be no doubt proud of the way the brand has evolved from a regional paint manufacturer to one that is now available across Australia. And when you consider it’s not available in major hardware stores, the brand’s success is even more impressive.

“We only sell our products through independent, specialist distribution partners. We don’t sell to corporate hardware stores and will soon be the only major paint manufacturer in the country to have Australian owners,” says Tim.

The product is still manufactured at its Ballarat headquarters – a deliberate decision by the brand who are committed to providing regional employment and growth. “We have a strong team culture, and we see our employees as an extension of our family. Without them we wouldn’t have been able to grow and evolve, and be the business we are today,” says Tim.

With an eye to the future, the brand is keen to be known as a one-stop-shop for surface coating for all types of painting applications from architectural interior finishes and industrial coating, to wood care and more. “With the fourth generation of Haymes coming through, we want to continue this path of evolving our brand, while sticking to our family philosophy. This award and recognition give us a compass that we’re on the right track and we feel really proud of this.”

Photography: Martina Gemmola | Styling: Ruth Welsby

For more | Visualise paint colours with digital render service